Entropic and near-field improvements of thermoradiative cells
Abstract
A p-n junction maintained at above ambient temperature can work as a heat engine, converting some of the supplied heat into electricity and rejecting entropy by interband emission. Such thermoradiative cells have potential to harvest low-grade heat into electricity. By analyzing the entropy content of different spectral components of thermal radiation, we identify an approach to increase the efficiency of thermoradiative cells via spectrally selecting long-wavelength photons for radiative exchange. Furthermore, we predict that the near-field photon extraction by coupling photons generated from interband electronic transition to phonon polariton modes on the surface of a heat sink can increase the conversion efficiency as well as the power generation density, providing more opportunities to efficiently utilize terrestrial emission for clean energy. An ideal InSb thermoradiative cell can achieve a maximum efficiency and power density up to 20.4% and 327 Wm-2, respectively, between a hot source at 500 K and a cold sink at 300 K. However, sub-bandgap and non-radiative losses will significantly degrade the cell performance.
- Authors:
-
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1361208
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1594142
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-02ER45977; SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; devices for energy harvesting; nanophotonics and plasmonics
Citation Formats
Hsu, Wei -Chun, Tong, Jonathan K., Liao, Bolin, Huang, Yi, Boriskina, Svetlana V., and Chen, Gang. Entropic and near-field improvements of thermoradiative cells. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1038/srep34837.
Hsu, Wei -Chun, Tong, Jonathan K., Liao, Bolin, Huang, Yi, Boriskina, Svetlana V., & Chen, Gang. Entropic and near-field improvements of thermoradiative cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34837
Hsu, Wei -Chun, Tong, Jonathan K., Liao, Bolin, Huang, Yi, Boriskina, Svetlana V., and Chen, Gang. Thu .
"Entropic and near-field improvements of thermoradiative cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34837. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1361208.
@article{osti_1361208,
title = {Entropic and near-field improvements of thermoradiative cells},
author = {Hsu, Wei -Chun and Tong, Jonathan K. and Liao, Bolin and Huang, Yi and Boriskina, Svetlana V. and Chen, Gang},
abstractNote = {A p-n junction maintained at above ambient temperature can work as a heat engine, converting some of the supplied heat into electricity and rejecting entropy by interband emission. Such thermoradiative cells have potential to harvest low-grade heat into electricity. By analyzing the entropy content of different spectral components of thermal radiation, we identify an approach to increase the efficiency of thermoradiative cells via spectrally selecting long-wavelength photons for radiative exchange. Furthermore, we predict that the near-field photon extraction by coupling photons generated from interband electronic transition to phonon polariton modes on the surface of a heat sink can increase the conversion efficiency as well as the power generation density, providing more opportunities to efficiently utilize terrestrial emission for clean energy. An ideal InSb thermoradiative cell can achieve a maximum efficiency and power density up to 20.4% and 327 Wm-2, respectively, between a hot source at 500 K and a cold sink at 300 K. However, sub-bandgap and non-radiative losses will significantly degrade the cell performance.},
doi = {10.1038/srep34837},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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